Committee Meeting

1. Apologies

All active committee members were present and so no apologies were needed.

2. Minutes Procedures

YP raised some questions regarding how the committee agreed meeting minutes before they are published.
RH referred the committee to the BaseballMK byelaws section 5, which can be downloaded from the web.

3. Financial Report

The committee read the financial report that had been produced by Estelle Sherman for the meeting.

The committee then discussed a few specific members who had still not paid their annual fees.
KS then asked RN for details of some senior players who had still not provided information so they could be registered with BSUK.

DOS then asked whether she was able to offer people willing to umpire youth games a payment of £10.
The committee confirmed this had been agreed.
It was also agreed that these payments could be used to offset annual fee debts for senior players who were willing to umpire.

YP asked when the Woughton ground rent payments would have to be paid.
KS said that the invoice would have to be paid soon.
KS then highlighted the fact that the subs collected from the senior team had not even covered their share of the Woughton rent costs.
KS then stressed that he did not see this as a problem as the senior team was an integral part of the club infrastructure.
The entire committee then agreed that it was important for the club to support every part of the infrastructure.
DOS then queried why the "Pay to Play" policy had not been enforced with the Senior team.
RN explained that as long as he was still struggling for numbers at some games he was not able to enforce the policy.
RN then said he was confident that next year he would have enough dedicated players enabling him to enforce "Pay to Play".
KS then said that all reps should continue to collect outstanding subs from players who owe the club money.

KS then spoke about how fee collection should be started earlier in the year for the 2007 season.
KS suggested that the first payments should be collected in December so the club would be prepared for the beginning of season costs.

RN then asked a few questions relating to specific transactions that appeared in the balance sheet.
KS & DOS answered these questions.

4. Estelle's Letter

DOS read through a letter sent to the committee from Estelle Sherman.
In the letter, Estelle resigned as acting treasurer and sponsorship manager.
Estelle also explained that the external audit of the accounts would be completed shortly.
Finally Estelle offered to help the new treasurer if they had any problems with the software used for the BaseballMK accounts.

RN then asked why the club had a single person as a sponsorship manager.
He believes that every member would explore the sponsorship that can be brought to the club.

5. Co-option of New Treasurer

IR offered to be more involved in the administration of the club.
RN proposed IR for co-option as treasurer.
KS seconded the motion

KS then suggested that Nigel and Pete should continue as club signatories for the time being due to procedural issues with the bank.

6. Adult Report

RN expressed that he was very happy with this years team and highlighted the teams current 5&2 record.
RN then mentioned the fact he was running short of game balls for the remainder of the season.

7. Pony Report

DOS explained that Chris Bateman had resigned as Pony team coach.
The committee agreed this and then expressed their gratitude to Chris for his time this season.

DOS then spoke briefly about player retention issues and asked if anyone had ideas for a new pony coach for next season.
KS stated he was sure that a new pony coach would be found for the 2007 season.

8. Bronco Report

YP then stated that she had not received any requests from the bronco team for items to be raised with the committee.

YP reported that the Bronco team were like the adults also having a strong season.
KS then added that he was taking a team to the mini world series the following weekend.

9. Club Umpire

DOS asked if anyone was able to contact Ian Baines so she could ask him to umpire some youth games.
RH said that he had some old details that he would forward so the DOS could try them.

10. Emerson Valley Update

KS showed the committee the latest drawings from the MK council architects.
NR asked about the outfield fence, KS explained what the council were proposing.
RN then noted that the diamond was no longer within the floodlit area of the field.
KS then assured the committee that the council were fixed on completing the project for the 2008 season.

11. Woughton

DOS said that she was very disappointed that Woughton had failed to mark the pony field dimensions for every game they had played.
NR highlighted the condition of the weeds and the frequency that the grass had been cut.
RN then said that although some work had been done on the mound, it was not of a satisfactory standard.
KS said that he was talking to Woughton about this.
RN then highlighted how much money the club was paying to Woughton management company and how little service we were getting in return.
NR then asked KS to ask Woughton to cap off the goal post holes in the outfield, as it was dangerous to play in its current condition.

NR then talked about the temporary outfield fence used by the adults.
It was suggested that the new fence should be marked or coloured so it could be tracked in the event that it should go missing again.

12. Equipment and Kit

RN stressed the need for a protective L-screen.
KS then re-iterated the items of safety equipment of the club shopping list.
KS suggested the way to finance this was to apply for an "Awards for All" grant.
RN briefly spoke about his experience when he applied in the past.
KS asked RH if he would begin the grant application process, and RH said he was unwilling to take on more club administration.
The committee then agreed to find another member willing to make the grant application.

DOS asked about the storage of the L-screen while it was not in use.
RN then said that he hoped that a member would help share all club equipment storage, rather than continuing to rely solely on KS.

NR asked about the status of the hats and t-shirts that were promised as part of the 2006 subscription fees.
RN asked what the cost of hats and t-shirts was, so he could understand what percentage of the fees they represented.
KS explained that social members had also been offered hats and t-shirts within their £15 subscription.
RN then asked what message he was supposed to return to the membership regarding this issue.
DOS suggested that all members should simply be told that the club does not have enough money to meet the costs at this time.
NR then asked if all outstanding subscriptions were collected would the club be able to meet its original promise.
KS then confirmed that the BaseballMK books would balance if all subscriptions were paid.
RN then queried whether people would still want hats and t-shirts after the season had concluded.
DOS then suggested that members who had paid full fees this year should receive a £10 deduction next season.
KS agreed this could also be used to get 5 free sessions of winter training.

DOS then went on to say how happy she was with the new club jerseys.
NR asked where the spare jerseys were located. DOS has them.

13. Fund Raising Committee

DOS explained that a recent fund raising event had advertised a "50/50 split with GB player sponsorship".
However, the exact nature of the 50/50 split had not been specified clearly enough to avoid some confusion.

The committee then looked at the options available and voted on which they thought was the most appropriate.
Option A: Sponsorship should be given to players that attended the fund raising.
Option B: Sponsorship should be given to all BaseballMK players selected to play for GB.
KS & YP abstained from the vote as their children were directly affected by its outcome.

A new fundraising sub committee was then agreed so that fund raising splits could be managed using applications in the future.
The new committee will consist of YP, DOS & IR.

14. Next Meeting

DOS asked all members of the committee to come to the next meeting with ideas for both the trophy night and 2007 season.
The next meeting date was agreed to be Tuesday 15th August.